The Onion! Not The Satire Website.

      Either love them or hate them the onion is as healthy as they come. The onion packs a nutritious punch loaded with flavonoids like quercetin and polyphenols. Yes, I know you have never heard of these before, but before we dive in, they are also loaded with familiar allies like: vitamin c, manganese, molybdenum, vitamin B6, folate, potassium, and tryptomphan. Still confused with some of these elements let me elaborate on the unfamiliar ones.

       Let's rule some of the elements we do know out, we talked about the benefits of vitamin c in an earlier blog post. Potassium was a familiar friend when we talked about coconut water and avocados. Folate, which is also B9, goes along with B6 which are important in proper enzymatic function in the body and development of cells and tissues. Manganese and Molybdenum are elements of the periodic table. Molybdenum is attached to important enzymes in speeding up chemical reactions. Molybdenum is present in very small amounts in the body. It is involved in many important biological processes, possibly including development of the nervous system, waste processing in the kidneys, and energy production in cells.  Manganese pretty much does the same thing as Molybdenum with addition of formation of connective tissue, bones, blood clotting factors, and sex hormones. Manganese also plays a role in fat and carbohydrate metabolism, calcium absorption, and blood sugar regulation. Finally, tryptomphan is an amino acid, which are the building blocks of proteins. I know hard stuff to digest, and we have not even talked about what makes onions so cool.

     Flavonoids which are quercetin and polyphenols are food stuff chemicals that are important in fresh fruits and vegetables. Flavonoid, specifically give fruit and veggies their color. The color of the fruit or vegetable can tell you sometimes what flavonoids are present.  Flavonoids are very potent anti-oxidents and are strong topoisomerase inhibitors (decreases mutant DNA). The more flavonoids you eat the healthier you will be.

      Now that we are done will the boring chemical part let look at the global health benefits of the onion. The can serve cardiovascular benefits, there is evidence that onion's sulfur compounds may work in an anti-clotting capacity and help prevent the clumping together of blood platelet cells. There is also evidence showing that sulfur compounds in onion can lower blood levels of cholesterol and triglycerides, and also improve cell membrane function in red blood cells. Multiple studies show onion to be a food that provides protection for the heart and blood vessels when consumed in a diet that is rich in other vegetables and fruits.

      Onions can support bone and connective tissue which studies have shown that onions can help increase our bone density which is important to women of menopausal age who are experiencing loss of bone density. There is evidence that women who have passed the age of menopause may be able to lower their risk of hip fracture through frequent consumption of onions; frequent is being consumption on a daily basis.

Stay tuned for part two of "The Onion"

  

Cherry Juice Me!

     Is cherry juice the ultimate antioxidant drink? Recently since the Olympics much has been made of the benefits of cherry juice, because some athletes have been taking it. Cherry juice contains a lot of important molecules that are linked to preventing certain types of cancer, heart attack, and stroke. It has also been theorized that cherry juice is a natural anti-inflammatory, tart cherries specifically can use to help relieve the pain and inflammation of arthritis, gout, muscle pain, and back pain.

     It has been shown that taking cherry before and after a strenuous workout can help with post-work out muscle pain. In another study it is been shown that one serving of cherry juice or fresh cherries can help decrease the blood urea levels as much as 15% in women. High uric acid levels have been linked to gout which is a disease where the uric acid crystals form in the joints, usually in the foot, which is very painful.

     Antioxidants are very important in our daily health regimen if we do not have foods and our own body to combat free radicals we will be nothing more than host to cancers. Antioxidants go against free radicals by accepting an electron, a free radical is basically an electron that's traveling throughout the body and what it wants to do is steal an electron from other molecules that are stable such as DNA and proteins, by taking in antioxidants in fruits, vegetables, and other foods they're basically donating that electron so it can be stolen so it's no stolen from somewhere else. Specifically in cherry juice the name of the antioxidant is anthocyanins which gives cherry that rich red color.

     There are two types of cherries, there are the tart cherries and sweet cherries both have beneficial effects, it has been shown that tart cherries have higher concentrations of the antioxidants but sweet cherries will suffice and give you some of the needed benefit. One brand of cherry juice I find to be good is Traverse Bay Farms which can be found at the following link http://www.traversebayfarms.com/cherryjuice.htm

Vitamin D, From The Sun Really?

The prescribing of vitamin D in the United States is a multi billion dollar industry. Vitamin D is a very important fat soluble vitamin that the human body needs to thrive. Vitamin D is helpful in the absorption and use of calcium. Vitamin D has five different types which are all very important. Vitamin D does not usually fall in the realm of normal vitamins the reason why is were not able to synthesize vitamin D in our body without the presence of a UV light or sunlight. Another unique feature of vitamin D is it's actually a sterol which is a precursor to cholesterol, so cholesterol actually is essential in the base product of vitamin D. This vitamin is essential for many different body systems and many other health issues one of the most important functions of vitamin D is when it is supplemented with calcium it can improve bone density hence, the lack of vitamin D has also been associated with osteomyelitis and rickets which is a childhood disease characterized by impeding growth and deformity of long bones. It has been shown that low blood levels of vitamin D can be associated with multiple sclerosis, which is a demyelinating disease in the central nervous system, cancer, and has been shown to effect the immune system, as it has been postulated to play a role in influenza with a lack of vitamin D due to decreased sunlight but higher rates of influenza during the winter. It has been claimed by the European Food Safety Authority that a normal vitamin D levels can help improve the immune system, can decrease inflammatory response, maintain proper muscle function, and reduce the risk of falling and people over the age of 60. The US Food and Drug Administration says it may reduce the risk of osteoporosis. The types of vitamin D that are mostly found in the diet are vitamin D2 and vitamin D3 the foods that are rich and vitamin D are mushrooms catfish salmon sardines tuna and eggs. When you want to get your vitamin D converted bythe sun you don't need to burn, you don't need to use sunscreen, the amount of time to convert all your vitamin D to its final form is just 20 minutes of sunlight.

Coke, Pepsi or Poison

Well the food and drug administration (FDA) thinks so! In the near future the FDA will have an in depth study and report on the effects of soda and other carbonated drinks have on the human body. This study will be similar to the study done on smoking that pretty much linked tobacco to it's harmful effects. I know it's hard to criticize the FDA once second and than take a report as face value, politics aside, take everything they say with a grain of salt. On this study it will seem reason to conclude that soda is a harmful product that serves no value and is addictive; wow that sounds like tobacco, right? Well the harmful products my not be as evident as tobacco, but I assure you they are there. First, most of the products have high fructose corn syrup which causes insulin spikes and prolonged effects can lead to diabetes. Sodium Benzoate a common food additive and used in soda is a known carcinogen when combined with vitamin c to form benzene. Also sodium benzoate on it's know is also known to damage DNA. Phosphoric acid which is also present and gives soda a tangy and acid taste is extremely harmful, it decreases bone density, by leaching calcium from the bones, can cause kidney and urinary problems. Phosphoric acid is also quite corrosive and is actually used to remove rust and pickle metal. These are just some of the components that are harmful some others do exist, don't get me started on diet soda.  If you must drink soda, please do it in moderation.  

Don't Always Trust Your Musculoskeletal Diagnosis

On the cusp of changes in our health care delivery system from Obamacare, things are going to be changing, ways to save money and produce a well rounded and cost effective treatments will be paramount. Practitioners that have a great satisfaction and positive outcome with their patients should be rewarded. Practitioners that also see the most of a certain condition or case and are experienced in that effective treatment should see those patients the most, that's not happening in our current system. Most cases of musculoskeletal pain are presented to general practitioners (M.D.) who have very little education and training at properly diagnosing and treating these conditions, besides treating a pain symptom which is usually ineffective.  Recent studies have concluded that medication for lumbar back pain is almost completely ineffective and some surgeries have as high as a 75% failure rate even though the number of certain surgeries have doubled from 2002 to 2008. According to John Birkmeyer, director of the Center for Health care Outcomes & Policy at the University of Michigan indicated that U.S. health care costs rose 6 percent last year to $2.47 trillion. Unnecessary surgeries cost at least $150 billion a year. It’s amazing how much evidence there is that (spinal) fusions don’t work, yet surgeons do them anyway,” said Sohail Mirza, a spine surgeon who chairs the Department of Orthopaedics at Dartmouth Medical School in Hanover, New Hampshire. “The only one who isn’t benefiting from the equation is the patient.”

The general practitioner (M.D.) lacks education and experience treating musculoskeletal conditions compared to the chiropractor, it's not medical doctors' fault, they just aren't taught that realm in medical school.  The chiropractor is more effective at treating these condition as shown in recent research and also have better patient satisfaction scores as shown in consumer report of 2009. In that report out of 14,000 patients, chiropractors were rated as highest satisfactory at 59% percent compare to 34% for general practitioners. Obviously, I'm bias in what I do, but it's in the research and numbers don't lie. The reason I write this article is bases on personal experience, about a week ago a patient came to our office seeking help for pain in her neck. She reports that she suffered the injury when she was diving into a pool and hit her head. She presented with laceration on the head and positive orthopedic test in her neck. We referred her that day to the emergency room to be evaluated for a closed head injury.  The next day the patient called to our office again and stated she needed help that the medical doctor at the emergency room just felt her neck, gave her muscle relaxers, and told her she would be OK. Well we were all surprised at the office, no evaluation at the hospital, we told her we would do radiographs of her neck when she returns. The radiographs came back that she had a broken neck, anterior fracture of C4, we were surprised that a doctor was unable to diagnosis a cervical fracture from a textbook history that causes cervical fractures.

Coconut Oil…Best Oil On Earth?

    Coconut oil, of course, comes from the meat or skin of the inner coconut, the white stuff. Coconut water as discussed before is very healthy and a great source of electrolytes for rehydration, but coconut oil is just as important health wise. Coconut oil serves a wide variety of health functions such as, skin and hair care to moisturize the skin and hair, but it’s most important function is cooking with it. The reason why it’s so great for cooking is because 66 percent of its fats are medium chained –triglycerides (MCT) which are composed of glycerol and three fatty acid chains. The reason why medium chain triglycerides are better than long chain or very long chain triglycerides is that MCT passively diffuse from the GI tract to the portal (liver) system (longer fatty acids are absorbed into the lymphatic system) without requirement for modification like the longer chained triglycerides. While most fats in the diet require bile salts from the gall bladder to be absorbed, MCT do not require them, hence a person without a gall bladder can absorb fat easier without the side effects (people without a gall bladder know what I’m talking about). Also people that have malnutrition or malabsorption syndromes are treated with MCTs because they do not require energy for absorption, utilization, or storage. Increase or high levels of standard triglyceride (long chain triglycerides) have been linked to and cause, diabetes, hypothyroidism, kidney disease, pancreatitis, and metabolic syndrome. If you're going  to use oil, coconut oil rules the realm.